Senior Project Sponsor

Key Information

Job title: Senior Project Sponsor
(This role is known internally as "Principal Sponsor")

Salary: Starting at £56,000     Grade: Pay band 3

Contract type: TfL     Reference: 1420

Team: Major Projects / Environment and Technology / Renewals     Directorate: Investment Planning

Contract details: Full-time     Location: Southwark, London SE1, with hybrid working
Hybrid working within this role enables a balance of 50 per cent of time split between the office and home over a 4-week period. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements

Permanent and Fixed-Term Contract (FTC) opportunities

One permanent vacancy (Major Projects)

Two FTC opportunities (Environment & Technology and LU Renewals) for 6 months with extension and permanency possible

Please clearly indicate which role(s) you are applying for in your cover letter.

Application closing date: 24 June 2025 @ 2359

Why work for us

Transport is at the heart of the greatest economic, social, and environmental challenges the world faces. And London is one of the world’s greatest Cities with Transport for London (TfL) leading some of the most significant transport projects in the UK. We have multiple Senior Project Sponsor (Principal Sponsor) opportunities for the right candidate to play an integral role in the development and outcomes of projects that will help shape London.
 
Our Major Projects team leads the Sponsorship of the largest, most complex and novel projects including rolling stock replacement programmes such as on the DLR, Piccadilly Line and Engineering Locomotives major signalling upgrades such as the Four Lines Modernisation of the Sub-Surface Railway, or major extensions to our transport network such as the Silvertown Tunnel, the Bakerloo Line Extension and DLR extension to Thamesmead. 
We also lead the Sponsorship of the multi-million-pound HS2 scope delivered for TfL by HS2 Ltd at Euston and Old Oak Common to ensure our customers can make seamless journeys safely and efficiently in the once HS2 is operating.

If you are applying for the permanent role in Major Projects, you will need to demonstrate in your covering letter that you have experience in rolling stock, signalling and rail infrastructure projects.

Secondment opportunities

Our LU Renewals team is the heart of the investment programme; prioritising investment in our assets to maximise value, ensuring our customers can safely, efficiently, and reliably make their journeys and our colleagues can work in safe and compliant environments. Our portfolio is crucial to sustaining the operation and long-term viability of our transport network and ensuring customers can continue using our services. The role would be responsible for sponsoring a wide range of projects which vary in size and scale, from structural renewals on stations, depots and tunnels, to embankment strengthening and drainage along our track and delivery of welfare facilities for staff to name but a few.

Our Environment and Technology team sponsors a variety of innovative projects to modernise TfL’s technology and support London’s journey towards Net Zero. This role is primarily for technology projects, where we are leading the way in delivering cutting edge technology to improve the systems used to operate our road network and keep London moving, secure the future of real-time bus information, modernise TfL’s Santander Cycles scheme, deliver solutions to protect the safety of our colleagues and customers, and much more!

Sitting within TfL’s Investment Planning (IP) directorate these roles are fast moving, touching every corner of our business and a wide range of external stakeholders. In this role you will be an integral part of our matrix project delivery teams, driving the best possible outcomes from our projects.

In this role, you’ll be responsible for shaping the current and next generation of project outcomes and benefits at TfL. You’ll be an effective decision maker, able to assess value for money and make every pound we spend stretch as far as possible to deliver the right outcomes. You’ll support and challenge our delivery teams and suppliers and be highly collaborative with a passion for empowering and motivating project teams to embody the TfL Vision and Values. You’ll also make sure that we learn lessons from the monitoring and evaluation of the things that we do. You’ll help TfL make the right investment choices to deliver its targets and ambitions across London.

As part of our continued focus on wellbeing and diversity across the department, IDP welcomes and supports flexible working arrangements including part time and job share opportunities and many people are already benefitting from this. As such, we would like to highlight that this campaign is also open to those who already work flexibly or would like to explore this as an option.

What are we looking for?

A good Senior Project Sponsor (Principal Sponsor) has a passion for the role and a willingness to learn, but we are also looking for the following qualities and abilities in you:

Key Accountabilities

• People Leader to direct reports as well as matrix teams across the Value Chain, role modelling TfL’s Vision and Values as well as the TfL People Leader Framework principles
• Translates policies and objectives from the Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS) and other key planning documents, to assess, develop and appraise a range of potential transport interventions, establishing evidence-based, prioritised investment options and progressing early-lifecycle stage project activities to obtain necessary consents
• Ensures project requirements are aligned to strategic outcomes, assesses trade-offs and manages incompatible requirements to resolve conflicting objectives and confirm the preferred option for delivery and the continued value for money of TfL’s proposed investment
• Establishes the appropriate project funding strategy and secures necessary authorities to ensure projects are governed in accordance with Standing Orders, including identifying and leveraging third party funding contributions where appropriate
• Develops high-quality products (e.g. business case, social and environmental assessments) and undertakes first line assurance activities in accordance with Pathway, holding delivery teams to account to facilitate value for money decision making and ensuring that emerging risks to project outcomes are identified, acted upon, and escalated as appropriate
• Develops and maintains strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders to ensure the necessary financial and political support for a project throughout its lifecycle, developing and presenting evidence-based information to facilitate decision making processes. This includes supporting consultation events, inquiries, hearings, and committees as required
• Produces and leads input into regular business reporting activities and external requests for information e.g. Freedom of Information Requests, correspondence and Mayor's Questions and briefings to ensure that TfL demonstrates transparent reporting of TfL’s Investment Programme
• Ensures that the identification, quantification, and realisation of project benefits occurs to ensure the planned outcomes are successfully achieved and that lessons for future investment are disseminated

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

Skills

• Proven ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously in a complex organisation to achieve business outcomes (Essential)
• Ability to present recommendations to senior colleagues and facilitate and negotiate with groups and individuals to achieve desired outputs (Essential)
• Ability to work in cross business teams, resolving conflict as it arises and motivating and managing direct reports (Essential)
• Good written and verbal communication skills with an ability to work in an innovative but structured manner (Essential)
• Highly numerate, good IT skills, detail conscious and well organised with an ability to work under minimal guidance (Essential)

Knowledge

• Degree level education or equivalent professional experience (Essential)
• In depth knowledge of project technical skills aligned to the sponsor role e.g. governance, commercial and stakeholder management techniques (Essential)

Experience

• Experience of delivering or sponsoring transport projects in large complex, regulated organisations where there are multiple interfaces, and delivering to time and budget (Essential)
• Experience of one of more of the following: financial management and budget setting, governance, early-stage project definition and initiation, requirements setting, business case development and benefit management and realisation, major project consents e.g. Transport and Works Act Orders (Essential)
• Experience of negotiating and communicating with challenging stakeholders (Essential)
• Experience of leading, developing, and motivating colleagues / teams in a matrix environment (Essential)

Application Process

• Please apply using your CV and a one-page covering letter
• Think carefully about the skills, knowledge and experience in the advert and cover this in your CV and cover letter
• PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images

If you would like to learn more about the role, we are holding drop-in sessions via Microsoft Teams, where you can meet some of our existing team and get a chance to ask any questions you may have.

13 June 12:30

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 327 893 355 775 3

Passcode: NN9Vc66L

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria. We also use anonymising software that removes identifying information from CVs and cover letters to make the process fair.

Benefits

In return for your commitment and expertise, you will enjoy excellent benefits and scope to grow.  Rewards vary according to the level of role but mostly include the below:

• Final salary pension scheme
• Free travel for you on the TfL network
• Reimbursement of 75% of the cost of a standard class Ticket for National Rail travel from home or 75% reimbursement on a 28-day flexi ticket
• 30 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays
• TfL is committed to work-life balance, operating a hybrid working approach where business and role requirements allow
• Private healthcare discounted scheme (optional)
• Tax-efficient cycle-to-work programme
• Retail, health, leisure and travel offers
• Discounted Eurostar travel

We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.